


Resolve

by DarkJediQueen



Series: Love Grows With Music [3]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, M/M, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-20
Updated: 2019-09-20
Packaged: 2020-10-24 15:37:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20708432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkJediQueen/pseuds/DarkJediQueen
Summary: It's a test of Spencer's resolve. Only it's not his resolve when it comes to Sammy but Aaron.





	Resolve

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rivermoon1970](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rivermoon1970/gifts).

> **Year**: April 2012 (Season 7)  
**Spoilers**: Up Through Season 7  
**Notes**: None  
**Beta**: Grammarly

Spencer really wasn't sure about Aaron's plans for Easter. Sammy was not like Jack and had not been hunting Easter eggs his whole life. There was nothing in the journals that had been found in the house that Sammy had grown up in that had been written in by both parents about Sammy going to Easter egg hunts. It was the kind of thing that would have been in there, so Spencer had to assume that he had never done it.

A shuffling noise had Spencer looking up to see Sammy entering the kitchen still in his pajamas with one of his arms wrapped around a stuffed Treble clef that Aaron had found for Sammy. The outside was made of leather, a texture that Sammy didn't have nearly as many issues with as he did other fabrics and their textures. The inside was stuffed with foam beads. Sammy usually slept with it at night, clutching it to his chest. Spencer still had no clue where Aaron had found it as Aaron was keeping that to himself. Spencer had a feeling that Aaron might have had it made for Sammy.

"Good morning," Spencer said when Sammy looked in the rough area where Spencer was.

Sammy's free hand pitched up a little, and his fingers kind of wiggled. It made Spencer's heart fill with pride at that. Spencer watched Sammy as he moved over to the chair that was his at the island in the kitchen. Sammy sat down and hugged the Treble clef tightly. Spencer watched him, he wasn't upset just acting differently than usual. Spencer set aside the tablet he had been reading on, getting ready for a short meeting that he was going to have. This week Spencer was going to be working from home since it was Easter break for New Haven. The meeting that Spencer was supposed to have the next day on an actual weekday where he was supposed to work had been pushed up because the gentleman who needed to be at it wasn't going to be available with his wife going into surgery. Spencer hadn't pushed to know what kind. It wasn't like a ten-minute meeting was hard to push into happening.

It took Spencer longer than it should have for him to realize that Sammy didn't want cereal. That was the norm for Sammy. He would get his bowl from the dish drainer and his cereal and pour out what he wanted. Milk was already in a sealed up cup in the fridge. Sammy liked having things that he could do for himself, and Spencer liked giving him things to do.

Spencer got up and grabbed the cards that had pictures of meals on them. The first ones were breakfast meals that Sammy liked and would want sometimes. The lunch and dinner cards were more in number. Spencer unclipped the breakfast cards and walked over to lay them down in front of Sammy. Spencer didn't watch him as he moved the cards around. He walked back over to the coffee pot and grabbed the carafe to top off his cup at his spot. He had got a little too much cream and sugar in it, focused on reading, so he didn't need to add anything to it.

Listening with one ear, Spencer started to get pans out. There were two that he would need no matter which meal Sammy picked that he wanted. Spencer figured that it was the smell of the ham that was cooking in the crockpot that had made Sammy want something more than just cold cereal. Focused on his task, Spencer jumped a little when he felt a tug on his sleeve. Sammy had two cards in hand. Which was strange.

"Thank you, Sammy," Spencer said as he reached out to take the two cards, not touching Sammy's skin at all as he did it. He found that the first was scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, bacon, and toast, but the second was oatmeal. Spencer had forgotten that card had been added into the breakfast foods. Spencer knew that it was too much for Sammy to eat. "I don't understand."

Sammy pulled the cards down to his height with a little tug, and he pointed at the toast and then the oatmeal, but he shook his head at the same time. He walked over to the cabinet that held the breakfast foods that Spencer ate and pointed. Spencer walked over and opened up the cabinet to allow Sammy to show what he wanted. He pointed at the Cream of Wheat. It was a new cereal that Spencer had picked up at the store. He remembered it from when he was a kid. He had eaten it one morning in front of Sammy, dipping his toast into it and taking a bite. Sammy had wanted to try a bite, so Spencer had gladly given it to him.

"So you want a little Cream of Wheat to dip your toast in?"

Sammy gave a little smile, and that told Spencer he had got it right.

"That sounds perfect this morning." Spencer reached over Sammy and grabbed the Cream of Wheat. It wouldn't be hard to make a single serving that they could split. Spencer hadn't been sure how Sammy would feel about the texture of the food, but it seemed that he liked it. He didn't like it plain but dipped in the toast he did. It was strange, but Spencer had a few texture issues as well, so he could understand.

Spencer set about making them breakfast and laid his tablet beside him on the stove to make a few notes on. He was going to have a few new cards made up, one with Cream of Wheat and toast and another with their regular breakfast with a small bowl of Cream of Wheat added.

Sammy had a tablet in front of him, Spencer hadn't even heard him leave to go and get it. There was no haptic feedback on the tablet, but Jackson had loaded over a lot of programs onto it for music, and there was even a roll-up keyboard that he could play on. Spencer wasn't sure what Sammy was doing at the moment, but he was content, which was good.

There had been a few rough patches over the past few weeks. Sammy had been feeling too confined with a lot of rain. As well as still recovering from being sick, Spencer didn't let him outside as much. They had got through it all so far, but Spencer knew that more bumps were going to come. Sammy wasn't cured, there was no cure or a need for him to be cured. He was who he was, and Spencer was learning more and more each day on what was needed to keep Sammy happy but also make sure that Spencer wasn't going insane.

Spencer's phone chimed, and he looked down at his tablet when the message popped up there. It was Aaron asking him what kind of potatoes Sammy liked best. Spencer tapped the call button and waited for his phone to start dialing before he grabbed it from the island behind him. He loved the paired phone and tablet thing and was testing it for Jackson. So far, it had been good.

"Hey, you didn't need to call." Aaron's tone sounded happy, though. Like he was pleased that Spencer had called him.

"I'm cooking, so a call is going to be much easier than trying to stop and text."

"I'm at the store with Jack, and Jack reminded me that Sammy doesn't always like the normal things that one makes with ham. So I thought I could make scalloped potatoes and then whatever Sammy will like."

"He likes those. Especially if there is a lot of cheese in them and green onions, which I found to be a good combination but looks a little weird."

"Like fresh ones?"

"Yes, not the dried ones." Spencer started to turn the potatoes in the skillet and then the bacon before he turned on the fire under the pan that the eggs were going to go in. There was going to be cheese in them. Sammy seemed to really like cheese, though Spencer had to moderate that so that he didn't get bound up. "Can you pick up more potatoes? I don't have a lot here."

"I was getting some for the scalloped potatoes so I can just easily pick up a larger bag and leave what is left with you. Anything else we need?"

"I still don't like that you are handling all of the sides and dessert."

"Spencer, I like doing that kind of stuff. It's just simple green beans, scalloped potatoes, and carrots as well as a dessert that I think Sammy will like, if not I am going to save some of the pudding out and he can just eat it."

Spencer wasn't sure what to feel at that moment. He never was when Aaron made sure that Sammy had what he would like to eat or just making sure that what they ate was something that he would.

"That sounds good. The ham is in the crockpot, and I think it's why Sammy doesn't want cereal. You can come over whenever you want. I have no plans other than a short meeting in a little while. Sammy seems content to play on his tablet."

"Well, I have a few errands to run after I get the stuff from the store. I have my cooler bags with some ice with me, so nothing is going to go bad, but the other errands are on the way to your place, and it didn't make sense to go nearly all the way toward your place and then double back."

"You are almost more anal about food than I am so I didn't think you weren't going to make sure the food was still good by the time it got here." Spencer gave the phone a fond smile before he walked to the fridge to grab the eggs. Sammy was eating well when he got hungry, and Spencer didn't force him to eat at times when he wasn't that hungry. Spencer instead just made his food and would reheat it when Sammy was ready to eat.

"I hear eggs cracking," Aaron said.

"Yes. Two each and some cheese." Spencer worked on mixing the egg yolks and whites before he walked back to the fridge to put up the eggs and grabbed the cheese. "Oh, can you get some Velveeta cheese? I'm going to be out after today." Spencer tossed the box the cheese came in into the trash and then the baggie he had the cheese, and it's wrapper in as well before he started to unwrap it as he walked back to the stove. The potatoes were smelling damned good, and so was the bacon. Spencer carefully cut up the cheese and dropped it into the bowl with the eggs and gave another good stir before he sprayed the pan with oil and added the eggs and cheese.

Spencer looked at his phone, wondering at Aaron's silence to see that Aaron had turned on the video portion of the call and was it seemed just watching him.

"Hey," Spencer said as he started to blush.

"What? I like watching you cook." Aaron was smiling at him, and Spencer forced himself to look away.

Spencer sometimes couldn't take the way that Aaron looked at him. Spencer knew that Aaron's emotions were a lot deeper than Spencer's had been when they started, but it was never more noticeable than when they were like this. Usually, they were right there with each other, but Aaron liked to watch Spencer, and when he did, his heart was on his face. Aaron was all in, and Spencer wanted to be, but he was hesitant with Sammy. Aaron was the settling down type. He would want to move into together and moving Sammy so close to having him move across the country would be very bad, which meant Aaron and Jack moving in with Spencer and Sammy. It wasn't unthinkable, just problematic. Spencer needed time, Sammy needed time.

The thing that Spencer knew was that Aaron would give him that time. Aaron would want to move in, but he wouldn't force himself on Spencer. Everything would be at Spencer's pace. It was nerve-wracking, but Spencer had known that about Aaron before he had ever agreed to a date. The way that he was with Haley was very indicative of what he thought of relationships. While Aaron might not actually put pressure on Spencer to allow Jack and him to move in, it would be there nonetheless. Spencer would know it. He wasn't going to tell Aaron that. It was his own issues that he needed to deal with.

"I like watching you when you are concentrating on something. You look at peace, even if the subject matter is horrible."

"It's still a little weird to me, but it doesn't hurt anything." Spencer looked away from Aaron's smiling face to take care of the food. The eggs were starting to cook and get fluffy, so he worked on those before turning the potatoes again and taking the bacon off the stove to finish cooking in the pan but with no added heat. Sammy was making noise, so Spencer glanced at him to see that he was getting up from the stool. The tablet was moved to a safe distance, and then he was walking to the fridge. Sammy grabbed the bottle of orange juice, and then the milk that was portioned out for his cereal. He moved around to grab glasses from the low cabinet.

"What?" Aaron asked.

"Sammy is really hungry, I think. He's helping to set the table. I had better go, or the eggs or potatoes will burn."

"I'll see you in a little bit."

"The door will be unlocked so just come on in."

"I will. See you soon." Aaron made a kissy face and shut off the phone before Spencer could say a word. Spencer could feel his cheeks burning. He huffed and turned his attention back to the potatoes. He turned the fire off and moved the pan to the hot pad beside the stove. Sammy was carefully pouring some juice into two cups. The eggs were done, so Spencer took them off next. Sammy wasn't hurrying, but he did move back around to where he wasn't in the way as he pushed the drinks to where they belonged. Spencer got down two plates and started to divide up the food. He had learned pretty well how much Sammy could eat, but he always put a little extra on the plate for breakfast because it was the main meal that Sammy ate more at.

Spencer settled Sammy's plate down in front of him first before he set his down and moved to refill his coffee again. He had to add creamer and sugar this time, so it took a minute. It would allow for Sammy's food to cool down some as the boy never ate until Spencer was eating. Sammy was actually blowing on his food when Spencer turned around. He reached out and plucked up a piece of bacon with his fingers and broke off a bit to eat. He made a little pleased noise.

Sammy hadn't liked bacon before. There were notes in the journal about him always eating a small bit but still spitting it out. So Spencer had experimented with him on it. He cooked some different every single day and found that Sammy liked his crispy but not crunchy. Still a little give in it all without it being what most called wimpy bacon. It had taken a little while to perfect it, but it was the only breakfast meat that Sammy would eat. Sometimes he would eat ham, but it was not that often, though he did like thick-cut ham on sandwiches.

It was always interesting to watch Sammy eat out of the corner of his eye, Spencer found that there was a reason for what he did, but the reason was only in Sammy's head. Spencer kind of enjoyed the silence of the house while they were eating. He hadn't thought that he would like the silence of a home. It was why he had lived in an apartment when he had moved to DC. He loved hearing the bump and thump of people in other apartments beside and even above him. The silence of the house was sweet to Spencer. It was calming. It meant that things were fine.

Sammy finished off his eggs, potatoes, and all of his bacon before he picked up that plate and moved it away to pull the Cream of Wheat closer to him. The toast was already buttered. Sammy dunked the first corner into the Cream of Wheat and carefully raised it up to his mouth.

The chime of Spencer's phone turned his attention to it, and he saw that the exact time for the meeting was set and he would have enough time to clean up the dishes from breakfast before it. He was going to take the meeting in the kitchen. It was the commonplace that he did. Jackson thought that it was funny but said nothing. Meetings that happened like that were not anything that had a lot of sensitive material, so if someone did overhear that was fine.

Sammy finished off his breakfast. He stacked his dishes on top of each other before carefully walking them over to the sink. He came back for his drink glasses next, and the sound of water running told Spencer that Sammy was rinsing them out. He was learning some small things like that at school. Sammy was doing well in the life skills classes much better than Spencer thought. He knew that the education that Sammy had been getting back home was the best that his parents could do with what they had and what the area offered, but Spencer was just infinitely grateful that he was able to help Sammy to live a good life.

Spencer heard Aaron and Jack entering the house. Both of them were quiet, but it was a noise that Spencer was well used to. Sammy's face lit up when he saw Jack enter the kitchen. Aaron was behind him with several bags of things. He went right to the fridge to start to put up the stuff in the cooler bag before adding other items to the counter where Spencer had items stacked that were going to be used for the day. Spencer was intrigued about everything that Aaron had on him.

"Dad, I'm hungry," Jack whined.

"You already ate breakfast, but I am sure that Spencer has some cereal you can eat."

"I have a little bit of extra everything that he can eat. Sorry, it's not enough for you." Spencer nodded his head to where there was indeed a plate with a little bit of everything except for the Cream of Wheat.

"Eat quick. It seems that Sammy wants your attention."

"He's been playing something really short on the piano over the last few days, and I have no clue what it is. It's not in any of the music scorebooks that he has. So I look forward to finding out what it's for."

Jack nearly inhaled the food and did rinse his plate before he rushed out of the room following Sammy.

"Good morning," Aaron said with a smile on his face.

"Good morning. I'm shocked there are stores open," Spencer said.

"I know a few that are open just for a few hours to get last-minute items for the meal, especially with the hustle and bustle of DC at Easter." Aaron folded over his reusable bags and laid them on top of the ones that Spencer had in the kitchen to take back out to his car. He walked over to Spencer. Aaron looked at him with an amused look on his face as Spencer didn't turn around to face him. "Hey, I have something for you."

"Yeah?" Spencer asked. He worked on getting his tablet set up so that he could do the meeting when it was time so he could give Aaron all of his focus until that time.

"You think you're cheeky?" Aaron asked.

"I know that I am." Spencer finally turned around to where he was facing Aaron. He leaned forward and waited for the kiss that he knew Aaron wanted to give him, but instead of that, there was a small box in Aaron's hand. Spencer frowned and took the box. He shook it a little bit and frowned, there was no noise from inside of it. It was about the size of a jewelry box that held a necklace or a bracelet, but there was no logo on it. Spencer brought it down to where he could lift the top of the box off and inside was a pen. It was a gorgeous purple and silver pen, but it was still a pen. Spencer looked up to see that Aaron had another hand there an in it was a book. Spencer took that, setting aside the pen. He found it was a journal, it was the same shade of purple as the pen. "For my thoughts on Sammy?"

"Exactly. You said that you were trying to figure out exactly what you wanted to do on that and I saw this. You can easily pick up more ink and more journals at the store. I left the card inside so you could find it. It was one of the stores I wanted to stop at as this was in. I had the pen custom made to match the journal."

"I love it. Thank you. You need to stop buying me things you see that you think I will like."

"Never." Aaron was grinning. He moved to where Spencer had to turn to put his back to the island and Aaron boxed him in before finally leaning in for their kiss. Aaron hesitated. "I like doing small things like that to show that I adore you. I will stop if you want, but it might take me a while."

"No, it's fine if you want to do it because it makes you happy, but I don't want you to do it if you think that you have to do it to keep me happy. I just want you."

"I know." Aaron ducked his head down the rest of the way and finally brushed his lips over Spencer's. It was just a simple back and forth of skin on skin.

Spencer made a disgruntled noise, and Aaron laughed a little before finally kissing Spencer like Spencer wanted. It wasn't hot and heavy by any stretch of the imagination, but it was more personal, it was better. Aaron was just finally letting Spencer taste his mouth when there was the sound of someone clearing their throat.

"Good morning, Spencer, Aaron," Jackson said.

"Morning, Jax," Aaron said, but he was looking solely at Spencer with a smile on his face. "I'll go and wrangle the kids while you have this very short meeting." Aaron glared at Jackson over Spencer's shoulder. It was kind of cute that Aaron was so hostile when it came to Jackson stealing what Aaron called his time with Spencer.

"Goodbye, Aaron."

"So where did you end up?"

"South of France. It's lovely here right now, and the wine is just great. I just wanted to check in personally."

"Oh, this meeting was supposed to be with Alfred and you."

"Alfred drank too much last night at a bachelor party for a friend. He's in no condition to talk about anything. He's dreading having to go and be an adult tomorrow and help his wife through surgery. I've emailed everything that you two would discuss to your work email but don't worry about it until tomorrow. Nothing is that important, and I have told Alfred that you two would talk about it through email. You two are looking rather comfortable, and it's Easter. That's a big deal."

"Not really. I've done meals like this with him before. With Jack."

"He adores you, you do know that, right?"

"I'm well aware of how he feels about me." Spencer gave Jackson a smile. He knew it was probably shy and hesitant. He didn't care. "He wears his heart in his eyes and face. I don't plan on doing anything to hurt him. Ever."

"I know that. I don't know you as well as I know Aaron, but he would never be with someone that he didn't trust with himself. All of himself. You'll do fine by him, and he'll do fine by you."

"Have a good Easter, Jackson."

"I expect to see pictures on your desk of the Easter egg hunt that Aaron's put together. I really wanna see Sammy's face when he sees the eggs."

"What?"

"Don't tell my secrets," Aaron said as entered the room.

"Secrets? The eggs are secrets?"

"For now, yes." Aaron grinned at Spencer before he walked around the edge of the island to reach out and shut off the tablet. There was a short squawk from Jackson, but it was cut off.

"Hey, he is my boss." Spencer was laughing though as he said it.

"Yes, and he'll forgive me anything. He knows that I am the one that did it. He's not going to fire you at all. Hell, he will probably text me a sad-faced emoji or something at some point. It will all be fine. So you should go and see what Jack and Sammy are doing."

Spencer raised an eyebrow at Aaron. He got up from his seat and headed over toward where the door that led to where the boys were. He saw that Sammy was at the piano. Sammy was playing that song that was about two minutes long that he had been playing over and over tweaking it a little bit. That was the other reason that Spencer was sure that it wasn't a long that Sammy was learning for school. He was changing the song little by little. This version he was playing though was the same version as last time. There was no music paper in front of him, so Sammy was playing totally from memory.

"Oh, that's perfect," Jack said.

Spencer felt Aaron slip up behind him, wrapping an arm around his stomach and his shoulders to hold him. Spencer laid one of his hands over the one around his stomach and then wrapped the other around Aaron's wrist on the upper one. It was a normal position for them when they were like this, watching Jack draw and Sammy play.

"Sammy, you did really good." Jack laid his drawing pad down as he spoke, and then he stood up and moved to Sammy.

It took a few seconds for Spencer to realize that Jack was going to hug Sammy. Spencer tried to fight out of Aaron's hold. He did not want Sammy freaking out. Aaron held onto him.

"Stop," Aaron whispered into Spencer's ear.

Spencer fought him another second until he saw that Jack was going to sit down beside Sammy on the piano bench. He reached out and patted Sammy's shoulder, a show of affection that Aaron had started with Sammy not too long before. Sammy had not ducked out of the way of the touch or protested the first time that Aaron had done it, and it seemed that he didn't mind Jack doing it either.

"Play it again please," Jack requested.

Sammy started to play it again as Jack sat beside him.

"Jack's been the one doing that touch first. Every time that Sammy plays something that he likes. I even picked up a few books online that are musical scores from some of Jack's favorite movies. Like the soundtracks for Star Wars. Jack's looking forward to listening to Sammy play those. I'm holding off as he's not through his newest."

"Oh, no. He is. He's been tinkering with this song here for Jack it seems since he finished. I have no clue what the song is or what it's for other than Jack it seems."

"I have no clue either. Why don't you come and help me with a few of the things we can prep now and get into the fridge for dinner?"

"That sounds good. When will we need to put the potatoes into the oven?" Spencer asked. He allowed himself to be tugged into the kitchen. He turned on the intercom that was open directly to Sammy's piano room and let that fill the room. There was talking from Jack on occasion.

"Just after we finish with all of this. I like to cook them at a low heat and for a longer time."

"That's fine with me."

The meal went off without a hitch, and the sun was shining when they were done. Aaron declared it perfect for an Easter Egg hunt. Sammy willingly went outside, where he watched as Jack hunted for a few eggs. Sammy watched with rapt attention as Jack moved around, looking for hard hidden eggs. He really looked interested.

"Sammy, do you want to do it with Jack?" Aaron asked as he crouched at Sammy's side, looking at him out of the side of his eye and not crowding the front of him.

Sammy nodded his head in answer.

"Okay. Well, Spencer and I need to hide the eggs for the both of you. You are going to look for these." Aaron held out a bright purple egg that had music note stickers on it. "Yours have music notes on them, and Jack's will have nothing on them. Do you think that you can do that?"

Sammy nodded his head again.

"Good. Why don't you both go inside and eat your dessert while Spencer and I hide the eggs."

"Come on, Sammy!" Jack said as he held out his hand. Sammy didn't take the hand, but he did follow after Jack.

"I don't think I've ever done and egg hunt much less hidden eggs for one," Spencer said, but he took the basket of purple plastic eggs that were covered in stickers from Aaron when he tugged it from a hidden little hole on the far side of the porch. Spencer hadn't even noticed it at all. There was another basket with eggs for Jack.

"Well, this will be fun for you then. So you can hide Sammy's as you know better what kind of places he would look and find them. I'll hide Jack's."

Spencer nodded and started to hide eggs. He saw the places that Aaron was hiding Jack's and made a few a little harder for Sammy. He had a strange way of thinking and Spencer understood it even if it had taken a while for Spencer to fully understand it. Hiding the three dozen eggs that Aaron had made up for Sammy didn't take that long of a time.

"Ready?" Aaron asked.

"Yes."

"Okay. I'll get dessert for us, and we can eat it while the boys find their eggs. Jack's already promised to help Sammy get the hang of it before he goes to find his own eggs."

"You know Jack's one of the best kids. He's so loving and accepts Sammy for what he is when other kids would just not want anything to do with him."

"Haley and I were united on that front at least when it came to Jack. She had heard enough tales of the kids that the BAU had to take in over the years, and she didn't want Jack to ever be the cause of any of that. She wanted him to be a helpful boy who made sure that everyone had a friend of some kind instead of being alone. He's had a few bumps when it comes to Sammy, but I found a kid's forum that's highly monitored by other parents where kids with an Autistic family member can go and find help from other kids. Some it's the parents account responding, but it's a kid's words. I've monitored him on there, and mostly he's just reading. He did talk to a kid who has a new step-sibling in private chat about how he feels about having he considers having a step-brother."

"Jack's too smart for his age."

"He is, and his drawing is getting better and better. His reading is still well above what his other classmates does. His art teacher is very impressed with him. She looked into a few classes for him at local places, and it seems that a teacher at New Haven has expressed an interest in him. I didn't realize that New Haven took in geniuses as well. I just assumed that it was kids with various issues."

"Yes, well, New Haven started out as a school for the gifted and slowly added on students like Sammy. They became the school for kids like that over time because they were the ones that actually cared to try and make sure the kids were as ready for the world as they could be and that things were in place to make sure that the kids could contribute as much as they could. They became known for that more than anything else, but they still take on gifted students as their roster allows for it. As of right now, it's about half and half. Some of the gifted kids mentor the other students as much as possible and especially if they are going into fields that have to do with the care of anyone. It looks excellent on their college transcripts. Does Jack want to go there?"

"I've not told him the name of the school. The art program looks outstanding there. I've done some research into other art schools in the area, and none of them are that great. How do they do all of that?" Aaron laid the last of his eggs down in a few spots before just leaning against the fence to watch Spencer.

"Grants and donations. There is the fee that every student pays no matter what but that just covers room and board and the hours for the actual schooling. Then the after-school programs are all run on grants from the government, and a lot of the extra services for kids like Sammy are taken care of through grants from various organizations and donations. I give a little each month. Jackson's began to give more than he did before when he learned the full breadth of what they do. He's quite happy with the school and is donating new systems for various things to them in the upcoming months. It's all good as the data is sanitized and sent back to him for bug problems, he has one of the best when it comes to that. It internally records keystrokes, but when the issues pop up only the previous 100 keystrokes and/or mouse clicks are set back to him. Any time something is blocked for the kids, it's sent back to a team to look at and see if it's something they should be on and it's approved or not. It's a great system, and only those who pass the most stringent background checks can work at that part. Everything that they do is recorded and reviewed by a team on security to make sure they aren't trying to do anything untoward. Jackson takes care. He has a few charter schools that pay for the system for that reason."

"Are you trying to talk me into sending Jack there next year?" Aaron asked.

Spencer didn't answer at first. He worked on hiding the last of his eggs before he went over to where Aaron was. Aaron stood up a little more and looked at Spencer with a smile on his face. Aaron reached out and pulled him close, brushing their lips together. Spencer settled there were Aaron wanted him.

"It's not that I want Jack there if he doesn't want to be there, but he enjoys art so much, and the teachers at New Haven can give him personal attention and make sure that he's doing his best. If the art thing fades, which I don't think it's going to, he could find other things at New Haven that he wants to do. I do think that Sammy might like it, but I don't want you to send Jack just because of that."

"Jack did a little interview with the teacher at his school during an art exhibition, which I didn't realize they acquired actual judges for. He's been accepted to New Haven for the next year unless he tanks the formal interview."

"The art department lost a girl a few months ago to her father being moved in his posting from Quantico to an unknown location overseas. She moved back to California, where her grandparents are, and they are raising her from what I am to understand."

"You are well in-tune to things at the school."

"I'm the official contact between New Haven and Grimes Tech. Jackson added that to the job that I was doing and gave me more money for it. I sometimes swear that he tries to find ways to give away all of his money."

"He rewards the hard-working staff. I had dinner with him the other night, and he was telling me how well you are settling in there. Between working there and working at home, you are doing more than enough work there that he wants to make sure that you don't ever leave. I'd bring you back to the team in a heartbeat, and he knows it. There was a bit of talk in the upper brass a few weeks ago to see about offering you a consultant position that worked from Quantico during normal business hours. They have seen the drop in consults done across the board and didn't realize how many you did for other teams as well. Anderson is doing well at doing some, but really, no one is going to be able to recreate what you did. And this is not a pitch. You have enough and the help you give on occasion to teams that need it is all that we need. They can hire in more people to do paper consults if they want more of them to be done and such throughout the time. They don't need you. We don't need you. Sammy needs you, and this job is much more stable."

"I wasn't going to offer to do more than consult when you can't figure things out. I've offered to the other team leads, but they are well aware that hell will come down if I think that they are taking advantage of me instead of actually working for it. I miss the job in some ways, not the hours but the feeling of satisfaction that I got when putting away bad guys. I like what I do well enough, and Jackson makes sure that my brain is properly entertained. He's not that afraid of losing me."

"I know that. He would make sure that he never did. He's wealthy enough that he could match any single offer on price alone and he can easily give you plenty of things that would keep your mind active."

"I solved a Millennium Prize Problem while working for him so far. He doesn't care that I solved it on company time as well...my job is very new, and we are still working on things for me to do so as long as I am there to help with things, well he doesn't care what I do. The money is going into a trust for Sammy. He's going to outlive me, and I have to prepare for that."

"The exposure alone for you solving it if it's proven to be correct will be enough."

"For the FBI too. I've been working on it for years. Ever since it was posted. I just finished it while working for him. I plan on making sure that the FBI is part of it all for a recruitment drive."

"We should go get the kids. They are not going to last long in there. Sammy looked a little excited about this."

Aaron went to get the kids while Spencer just settled into a chair. When Aaron came back, Jack and Sammy were behind him. He had a large bowl of the dessert with two spoons sticking out of it. It was Rocky Road Pudding. Spencer knew that Aaron liked Rocky Road Ice Cream, but this was something new and interesting. There had been a fudge that got harder but not solid smeared on the top. Then more of the nuts and marshmallows dropped on top of that with plenty mixed into the pudding itself. Aaron sat down on the wooden lounge chair that Spencer had on the back porch and sat up with his legs on either side of the sitting area. He patted the area directly in front of him. Spencer gave him a slightly weird look but agreed to sit there. He stood up and walked over, settling there after Aaron handed him the dessert, it was apparent that Aaron wanted them to share the same bowl. That wasn't that big of an issue for him. They kissed. It wasn't like sharing food was going to get them sick if one of them was already carrying the virus.

"Your baskets are there." Aaron pointed to the boys where their baskets were. "Go have fun."

"Come on, Sammy." Jack waved for Sammy to follow him. Sammy did, and it was interesting to see him take the basket from Jack and then just kind of look around. It was like his eyes were taking in the spots in the backyard and then he started a very methodical search for the eggs, unlike Jack who fluttered here and there.

Sammy found his first egg and raised it up to shake it as he had obviously seen Jack do. There was something inside of the egg, so Sammy sat down on the grass and opened up the egg. Inside was a small pack of Reese's Pieces. It was one of the few candies that Sammy liked. They didn't get him messy, and he could line them up in order and eat them.

"Do all of the eggs have those in them?"

"No. Some have little silicone notes in them. Between what's in there and what is in the basket that I'm going to put in his room, he has enough of them to make a whole song with them if he wants. I even have a large sheet of cloth that has the bars on it like a sheet of music. It's the rest of my Easter present to him."

"You know that he's going to be spoiled with how much you buy him."

"He's a good kid, and he deserves to have the things he wants, or we think he is going to want. It's not like Jack, and he can tell us what he wants for everything. Yes, you've learned some things, but for the most part, he just can't tell us."

Spencer looked back out at Sammy who had found his third egg. He stopped every time and opened up his egg to see what was inside. Jack stayed well away from him, and Sammy would look at Jack if he found one of Jack's eggs before moving it to a slightly different spot, sometimes harder than Aaron had hidden it but sometimes more accessible. It was interesting to see what Sammy did. If he found candy, he sipped it back into the egg and closed it. If it was the music notes, he laid them down inside the basket and left the egg open.

"Hey, try the dessert," Aaron said as he leaned back in the chair. After a few seconds, Aaron pulled Spencer to where he was leaning against his chest. The lounge chair was set to where it wasn't quite fully upright but nearly so. Spencer loved to sit in it, though he had never sat in it with someone else. That was something strange. Aaron picked up the bowl and rested it on Spencer's thigh with one hand while he picked up a spoon with his other. Spencer could feel Aaron's breath on the side of his face, and he knew that Aaron was watching what he was doing. Aaron lifted the spoon up like he was going to feed the bite to Spencer.

"I can do it myself," Spence said, but there was no heat to the words, just a small token protest.

"I know you can, but I want to hear you try the first bite."

"I don't like chocolate that much."

"No, Spencer, you really do, and I think you'll like this."

"Is that why you made so much of it?"

"I like it too, so even if you hate it, I'll just eat the rest. I might have to run a few extra miles here and there over the next week, but it would be worth it." Aaron pressed the spoon in closer to Spencer's mouth, and he parted his lips so that the spoon could slip inside. He was shocked at how good it was. Spencer hadn't been sure since it wasn't made with actual ice cream, but it tasted pretty good. He picked up the other spoon as he wasn't going to let Aaron feed him all of it.

Aaron didn't seem inclined to feed him any more of the dessert, so Spencer fed himself while watching Sammy. This was not the type of egg hunt that most kids would have enjoyed, but Sammy was having fun. Aaron had taken Jack to several in the area before this, so this was just a little treat for Jack.

The day was going well, and Spencer was enjoying himself and so wasn't Sammy. There was little else that Spencer could ask for.

* * *

"Are you supposed to be gone?" Jackson asked as he entered Spencer's office.

"No." Spencer looked at the time. It was nearly four, Sammy was still in his after-school piano lessons. He was going to be riding the bus home afterward, and Spencer would meet him there. The bus thing was new and part of a grant to help parents. Since Sammy was one of the more stable kids, he was being shuttled around in it daily to see how it did with him, and then they would add more kids slowly. None of the routes were going to be over roughly an hour, outside of traffic time if the kids were in DC proper. It was going to be interesting. So far, it was going well for Sammy. He was coming home pretty much the same as if Spencer or Jessica were picking him up.

Jack had his interview at New Haven two days before, and Spencer had been the one to take him to it. Jessica had a doctor's appointment, and a case was running really long for Aaron.

"Aaron's not taking you on your first date tonight?" Jackson asked.

"No, no. He's still on his case. We talked last night as I watched Jack and took him to school this morning."

"I see. Still, take off. Go and get your boy and have a good evening." Jackson seemed to have a weird look on his face, but Spencer wasn't sure what it was or what it meant. "You've finished off the two weeks of work that we figured out for you in one. I have no clue what the hell to give you now. Just go home, and I'll call you to work when I have something for you. Take home those financial earnings things and make sure that we have the budget needed for what I want to do as far as the water machine plant on the Potomac."

"I can do that. I'll play around with them at home on Monday and until you get a hold of me."

Spencer always has busy work that he could do. Statistics that he was building for Jackson but those only worked for so long before he got bored. He liked number trails and paper trails, but this was a whole different beast. Spencer cleaned up his desk, transferred his files to his tablet to work on, and gathered the paperwork. There was a lot of busywork that he could get done.

Jackson as a boss was weird and strange, but he could see some of Aaron in him or Jackson in Aaron, he wasn't sure on that. Aaron had never minded what Spencer did if he work was complete. It was the physics magic antics that usually got him a stern look for a few seconds before it changed to something of a fond smile.

Spencer made it home in record time, settling in at the kitchen island to settle around his work for the next little while until Sammy was dropped off to him. It was Friday, so Spencer took Sammy out to eat. There were a few places that Sammy liked, and there were a few that he didn't, but most of the places were understandable if Sammy didn't find anything that he wanted and Spencer asked for something that was not on the menu. There had only been a single place that had refused, so Spencer had paid for what they had ordered as appetizers and their drinks and left. A drive-thru burger place had been their meal of choice, and then they ate at the park as it had not been that cold out that day.

Lost in a world of numbers and figures, Spencer didn't realize that Sammy wasn't home until the clock in the kitchen chimed the hour. The bus should have dropped Sammy off a half an hour before that. Spencer reached for his cell phone, his heart felt like it had fallen through his body and was on the floor. He was reaching for his phone when the front door opened up. Spencer kept his words to himself because Sammy would already be upset that his routine was disrupted and Spencer didn't need to add to it. Even if Spencer was to run and scream, an out for the emotions inside of him. Spencer rushed toward the front door and stopped when it wasn't Sammy there but Aaron. He had Sammy's backpack in hand and a smile on his face. That smile though faltered when he took in Spencer's face.

"What's wrong?" Aaron asked.

"Where is Sammy?"

"Oh, Spencer. Shit." Aaron settled Sammy's backpack onto the floor, and he stepped up and pressed Spencer's face between his hands and forced Spencer to look up at him. "Sammy is fine and with Jack and Jessica. Jessica called the school when I asked and had Sammy stay behind so that she could get him."

"Why?" Spencer felt himself calming down a little, but his heart was still racing.

"So I assume that you have not been in your fridge?" Aaron's tone was soft, and there was a quirk to his lips, but there was no humor anywhere else on his face. Spencer shook his head back and forth a little, as much as Aaron's hands would allow. "Why don't you go and do that now?"

Aaron ducked down and pressed a chaste kiss to Spencer's lips before he let him go. Spencer wondered why Aaron didn't tell him, but he still turned to head back into the kitchen. He saw his work scattered on the countertop and then looked at the fridge where there was indeed a note of some kind that had not been there before. Spencer jerked it down, and the magnet only slid a little bit. Spencer read over the note from Aaron that told Spencer that Sammy was being picked up from school by Jessica and that Spencer should get ready for their date. Aaron had the date planned out pretty well and the times were there, including when Jack, Jessica, and Sammy were going to come back to Spencer's so Sammy could sleep in his bed.

That last little bit of worry that inside of Spencer went away as he read the words twice.

"Normally, when you get home, you go right to the fridge and get a glass of water."

"I had one on the counter from this morning," Spencer said.

"I wanted it to be a surprise that we were home. The case broke in the night, and we rushed to get things taken care of before the two-hour flight home. I went to the office and took care of everything that I needed to. I should stick the note somewhere better like your front door next time."

"Yeah, maybe, or just text me."

"It's not as much of a surprise though."

"Should I change?" Spencer asked as he waved at the suit he had been wearing for work. It wasn't as fancy as some of the suits that Aaron wore, but it was good looking on him and to Spencer that was all that mattered.

"No, you are just fine in what you are wearing. We don't have to leave for a few minutes, though." Aaron looked at his watch. "Seventeen to be exact." Aaron's eyes darted up to Spencer's hair.

Spencer quirked an eyebrow at him because Spencer's hair was actually behaving and looked good without anything in it. Aaron backed up toward the counter and beckoned Spencer closer with a finger. Spencer walked toward him, unsure of what Aaron wanted but not afraid at all. Aaron gripped Spencer's hips to pull him closer and then those hands tightened, and Spencer was being lifted and spun. Spencer gasped and grabbed Aaron's shoulders so that he didn't fall. Spencer was plopped right down onto the counter. Spencer spread his legs for balance and Aaron slipped up, right between them, trapping Spencer against the counter.

"And what are your plans for the next fifteen minutes and forty-five seconds?" Spencer asked. He moved his hands off of Aaron's shoulders but draped his forearms over instead. Aaron leaned in so Spencer let his arms move to where he could wrap both around Aaron's neck, trapping him as well as Aaron had him trapped.

"Making out."

"I never would have guessed." Spencer was grinning as Aaron claimed his lips. Spencer rather enjoyed this side of Aaron. He loved Aaron's playful side. It had been seen here and there in Hotch over the years but never as prominent as it was now. Aaron's hands settled on Spencer's knees, which was new. Usually, his hands didn't wander down below Spencer's waist at all. Spencer moved one of his hands to grip the back of Aaron's head to tilt him a little more, making it easier for Spencer to part his lips and tentatively brush his tongue over the seam of Aaron's lips. Aaron parted his lips and moaned a little bit the first time that Spencer's tongue brushed over his.

Spencer moaned in return when Aaron's hands moved up from his knees to his thighs and then further up to slide around his hips and grip his ass. Aaron's hands were not still by any stretch of the imagination, but he never got near Spencer's cock. His hands even tangled into Spencer's hair a few times, mussing it, Spencer was sure. It would be easy to fix though.

An alarm blared, and it caused both of them to jerk away. Spencer caught himself at the last second so that he didn't crack his head off of the cabinet behind him.

"I guess that's what I get for setting the alarm as loud as I did," Aaron said. He was smiling, though. His eyes darted up to Spencer's hair.

"How does it look?" Spencer asked.

"Not that bad really. Here, let me." Aaron's fingers brushed through Spencer's hair, finger combing it which was all that Spencer had done throughout the day after his shower. It loosened the curls, but they still looked good and less like the half-formed ringlets they made otherwise. Aaron stepped back with a smile on his face. "Perfect."

"Thanks. Ready?"

"Yes." Aaron held out his arm, and Spencer linked his with him. "You'll get another letter in a day or two. I have no clue how the mail runs in the city we were in and such."

Aaron led the way out of the room.

"You know you don't have to send me a letter every single case you are one telling me how much you miss me, Sammy, and Jack."

"I know that I don't have to. I want to, and that's all that matters to me."

"I'm glad I really am. I do enjoy them, even if I read them after you've come back to town. You could just bring them back with you. Save the stamp."

Aaron stopped so that Spencer could lock the door once they were outside.

"I know that, but I like the surprise of not knowing when you are going to get it."

Spencer narrowed his eyes as Aaron as he turned around to face him again. Aaron loved the small gestures, and Spencer did as well. Spencer returned them in other ways, ways that were more natural for him. Aaron's favorite creamer in the fridge even though Spencer didn't like it. A meal that Aaron liked a lot but was hard to make or something that the kids wouldn't eat so just the adults did and Spencer made the kids something else. There were times that Aaron made three or four gestures while Spencer only made one, but then the reverse was true as well.

Aaron drove, opening the door for Spencer to the little restaurant that was between Quantico and Dumfries. Spencer had seen it many times but had never gone there as it was always too busy for Sammy. Spencer had resisted temptation, though part of that was Aaron's whole make out in the kitchen for nearly a quarter of an hour. Spencer pulled his phone out of his pocket as he stood up and texted Jessica. It was a disruption to Sammy's routine, not being with Spencer and going out to eat, even though Spencer had talked to Sammy about it, there was still the fear that it would throw Sammy into a spin. Spencer had not told Sammy that it wasn't going to happen, he had just planned on doing the usual thing and if Sammy seemed off then explaining.

"Ready?" Aaron asked.

Spencer hit send on the message, nodded, and started to walk around the car. Aaron held his hand out, and Spencer slipped his hand into Aaron's. The small affection of moves like that always shocked Spencer, but then he knew it really shouldn't considering that Aaron had been that way with Haley a lot of the time that they were around the team as a couple. Spencer had adjusted easily, and while a few remarks from bigots had been heard, no one had said anything that required them to act. Comments said under breath were not worth a fight, and really it went to show that they were the ones looking for a fight more than the other side was.

"Oh this place is nice," Spencer said as Aaron opened the door for him. Spencer took in the decor, while updated it still had the feel of a place from the twenties. There were tables full everywhere, but Spencer saw a single table in the back corner that would afford the two people at it a good view of everything going on. There was a marker on it that stated it was reserved. It looked like the kind of table that Aaron would want.

"Agent Hotchner, I have your table ready," the host said as Aaron stepped up to the podium. The host was dressed in a suit that the cut of it would be popular in the twenties. It fit them. Spencer just wondered what the waitresses wore. It was just a second later that one of them crossed in front of the area and Spencer was glad to see she was dressed in a dress that would have been right in with Flappers.

"Thanks," Aaron said, and he transferred his hold from holding Spencer's hand to it being wrapped around his waist. It was intimate in a way that was very different from just holding hands. No eyes looked up at them as they followed behind the host. They were seated at the reserved table, but from the new position, Spencer saw that there were two other tables on the far side that had signs on them as well and one that did not. "They do three-quarters reservations and then the last quarter is first come first serve. If I had called in to cancel because of work, I would have been moved to another day to one of the open seats of my choosing. They try and accommodate all manner of law enforcement and military by doing this. That's why I tend to come here. I ate here a lot after work before I had Jack all of the time. I love their food."

"I am looking forward to it, but it's definitely a place that I can't bring Sammy. Though I think he might like watching Flappers dance around on TV, I don't think he'd like the loud talking and music blending together." Spencer waited for Aaron to scoot out his seat before he sat down.

"How is Sammy's education going on Jazz?" Aaron asked as he took his seat.

"Oh, it going good. He's found a little that he likes. I hear him play it on occasion. He played a bit of a song for an hour the other day, over and over. I'm glad that he likes the music I'm getting him into."

Spencer's phone chimed, and he tried to ignore it, but Aaron nodded his head. Jessica had a specific ringtone set to her texts, and she was the only one with it. Aaron was the same in Spencer's phone with a noise that sounded kind of sexy to Spencer. The text was an image, so Spencer tapped on that to blow it up. It was a letter from the school with a few kids' signatures on it. Sammy had eaten his lunch quickly and then went to the music room and played for the rest of the lunch hour. There was no music class right after lunch so the room had been empty and it was Sammy's free period. Usually, he would go and have one of the teacher's start an audiobook for him. Spencer had been getting him Playaways from the local library that were audiobooks on a self-contained MP3 player. Sammy liked being read to, and during school, it was hard, so Spencer had tried these over the past few weeks, and it had been going well. Usually, Sammy sat outside while doing it. A teacher kept an eye on him.l

Today it seemed that he just kept on playing and the few other kids who used their free period to work on homework and such things had come to the music room to settle in and work while being played for. Afterward, every single one of the kids thanked Sammy before leaving to go to their next class. Spencer was being told about it because Sammy seemed to like playing for them and they wanted Spencer to know that they were fine with it as long as the music class didn't have a class. There was a postscript handwritten that the kids wanted to sign it to show their thanks again when they heard that a letter was being sent home with him.

"You look near crying. Is something wrong?" Aaron asked as he leaned over. They were sitting more beside each other with the other half of the table open for their viewing of the room.

"Sammy had a really good day at school; it seems and made a few friends." Spencer handed over his phone after opening up the image again. He sat back in his chair while Aaron read it over. Their waitress came over with a pitcher of ice water and two glasses full of ice. She set them down but didn't fill the glasses. Spencer figured it was a quirk of Aaron's.

"Appetizer, H-Sirs?" the waitress stumbled. She was blushing as she said the words, upset it seemed at her little mess up there.

"You are fine, Stacia. Spencer wouldn't think anything bad of you for asking if I wanted an appetizer since you know me well. Spencer Reid I'd like to introduce you to Stacia Carpenter. She's been a waitress here since they opened and one of the best I think. We haven't looked at the menu at all, but we will do the variety platter, and you pick which four you want to give us. We will eat all of them."

Spencer looked down at what Aaron was talking about and saw that it was smaller portions of appetizers and size of each depending on how many you ordered. Spencer really liked that, and he saw that he would indeed eat all of the various appetizers that were on the menu. He smiled as he nodded his agreement to what Aaron said.

"Good. Do you need sharing plates?"

"No," Spencer said before Aaron could answer. He gave Stacia a smile, and she nodded before walking away.

"A little eager there?" Aaron asked. He was smiling as he said it.

"I just...I know that in the past I've not been that great on sharing food and letting people eat after me and such or I after them. I still wouldn't with Morgan or even JJ, but you are different. You are very different. I mean...whatever one of us has the other will as well. And it's what people in a relationship do right? They double dip and eat off of each other's plates and silverware."

"But it's not anything that we have to do. It's personal between us. It's what we want and how we want."

"I want to do it. I promise I do."

"Okay but that doesn't mean we have to always do it. We just be us. No one has a say in anything that we do. No one."

"So what do you recommend?" Spencer asked as he finally looked at the rest of the menu. His eyes darted over the names, skipping ones that he knew and then reading more on the dishes with different names than usual or names he had never seen before. There was a lot that sounded good.

"I have never had a bad meal here."

Spencer looked at his phone and set it to vibrate so that he wasn't as distracted by it. He really didn't want to be on the phone the entire time. It wouldn't be good at all. He didn't want Aaron to think that he was nervous about the date, but he was nervous about Sammy and him handling Spencer being on a date.

Aaron made small talk that just flowed between them after Stacia took their meal orders. It didn't feel stilted or awkward at all like other dates that Spencer had been on. While work came up some for both of them, there was more about the plans for the weekend and things they could do to keep the boys entertained.

Spencer felt his phone vibrate and he glanced at it where it was lying face down on the table.

"Just look at it, Spencer. I don't care."

"No, it's not proper."

"Spencer, what did we just have a discussion on?" Aaron asked.

Spencer felt himself blushing, and he lowered his head down but picked up his phone to look at it. It was an image of Jack on the couch drawing. Sammy was at his feet with what looked like pen and paper. Probably drawing up music scores and various things. He was good at music notes, and his own writing of them was just as good as a lot of computer-printed ones.

"How is he?" Aaron asked.

"He's fine so far. Doesn't seem to be missing me at all."

"Wanna know why?"

"Why?" Spencer asked. He set down his phone again and focused on Aaron.

"Because Jessica took him out to eat at that place he really likes."

"Aaron the food there is so expensive!" Spencer started to try and figure out if he had enough cash to cover three meals there or if he needed to stop at an ATM to get some. He took Sammy there as a treat when he had a good week at school. The food was good, worth the price paid for it, but the appetizer and the meal that Sammy liked there were two of the most expensive things on the menu. It was good, but Sammy would want to go there every single time if he was allowed.

"I already gave Jessica the money for it. I told you that I would cover Sammy, Jack, and Jessica's meal when we went on dates, no matter who was covering the meal that we eat. I suggested there because I know that the staff is used to Sammy, and even if he came with someone else, he would be good and behaved. It would be a really good place for him even if he were upset with the change in the routine of you not being the one to take him there."

"The Chef/Owner has a brother who is severely Autistic. He lives with him, and he has a caretaker. That's why I like to go there. There is soundproofing in the walls so that the only place sound goes through is when the doors are open. He got into cooking because of his brother. Their parents had a hard time figuring out things to make that he would eat so Jake became a chef to learn everything needed so that he could make a lot of different food. He also runs a small online business that supplies variations on recipes and alternatives for kids who are very picky eaters. He doesn't charge a lot for it, and I've found a few things on there that Sammy really likes."

"He sounds like a good guy," Aaron said.

"He volunteers at New Haven, and that's how I met him and why I went to his restaurant in the first place. He has his brother with him in here a few nights a week."

The appetizer platter was dropped off with little fanfare and then more water. Spencer hadn't noticed that they had gone through the entire pitcher, Aaron must have kept their glasses topped off.

Talk meandered back and forth with a few Reid rambles slipping into their talk. Spencer knew that Aaron really didn't care, but it was still very strange to be indulged in things like that. Aaron was always so invested in listening to Spencer. The appetizers were gone and seconds later the plate taken and then their meal being dropped off. It was a perfect night, and it wasn't even over yet.

"Ah, Stacia, dessert to go please."

"You got it, Hotch." Stacia gave them both a big smile.

"Why to go?" Spencer asked. He looked at the time and saw that they had just enough time to pay, leave, and get to Spencer's house before Sammy's bedtime. "Oh. Really?"

"What?"

"I just didn't realize that so much time had gone by. That's all. I'm glad as I had a lot of fun, but still, I don't want it to end."

"And that's why dessert to go. Jack's going to bunk down in the spare room while you and I share the dessert after you get Sammy put down. He's good at being swapped between places so don't worry about that. Then we will be over for breakfast in the morning."

"You can stay the night."

"No, I don't want to disrupt Sammy's routine just yet. You being gone all evening will be bad enough. We can handle that later when Sammy's had a less interesting week."

"And if I wanted you to stay the night?" Spencer asked.

"Then I would tell you that I am not ready to stay the night like that."

Spencer resisted pouting, but he really wanted to. He understood Aaron's reasoning, and he agreed with him; he just didn't want the night to end at all. Aaron's hand reached out, and his thumb rubbed over Spencer's bottom lip.

"I can see you wanting to pout. Don't worry. I'm not going to eat and run away from you on dessert. I'll make sure you are nearly asleep before I leave. I don't want tonight to end either." Aaron leaned in and gave Spencer a chaste kiss on the lips, his thumb moving away just long enough for the kiss then it was back. "Though your pout is rather dangerous."

"Morgan has told me that before but I don't think I've ever had a lover tell me that before. I guess they didn't think so or I have never pouted at them."

"I don't believe that second part." Aaron leaned in closer and stayed close, their faces just inches apart.

"Why?"

"Because you pout when good things are taken away like your coffee that one day you were so damned hyper that I swore you would just vibrate through your chair at work. Morgan took your cup of really good coffee away, and you pouted. I almost told him to give it back to you, and you could work in my office, but Dave offered you his since he was leaving for the day. You went to his office, and I kind of hated it because you weren't visible to me. I kind of found you adorable. Just like a little bit ago when you really wanted to keep on checking in with Jessica on Sammy, but you didn't want me to think that you were ignoring me. After Haley died, I checked in on Jessica every single hour when I went on that first case. I understand. This is different than work, you have the work down. This is personal, and you think that you don't need to be away from him, so you want to check in more and more."

Spencer kept his mouth shut. He saw the small smirk on Aaron's lips. It wasn't a malicious one but one that he knew that he was right. And he was. Aaron was right that Spencer didn't like it, but he knew that he had to do things for himself or he was going to burn out when it came to Sammy. He had to take care of himself as much as he took care of Sammy for the happiness of both of them. It helped that Aaron was Aaron and knew exactly what was going on with Spencer inside. That helped a great deal. Aaron wasn't going to get upset at Spencer for wanting to check in with Sammy no matter when Spencer did it. Outside of probably sex but then if Spencer's mind was on Sammy while they were having sex, they weren't having very good sex.

Sex wasn't something that Spencer was that worried about between them when it came, it came. There was no rushing it. Their making out sessions were becoming more and more involved, and Spencer felt arousal during them, but he had no want of taking it further yet. He was liking the slow build, even if he had known Aaron for many years, it was still nice to get to see Aaron for precisely who he was and not the Hotch mask that he wore.

Spencer had fallen in love with him when he wore the Hotch mask more than the truth of who he was, but he had seen glimpses of Aaron underneath it all, and it had been one of the driving factors. Spencer knew that he was safe with Aaron. Aaron would love him and cherish and not leave him. He knew that. It wasn't a weird thing, but he knew that if Aaron loved him, Aaron would stay with him. Aaron didn't allow himself to be wishy-washy when it came to things like that. Aaron loved forever and his heart of capable of loving more than one person. Spencer knew that he loved Haley still and that was something that Spencer could never hate him for. He wasn't pining for his dead ex-wife, but he would always have that love inside of himself. He had loved her after the divorce, and he would keep on loving her until he died. Even if Haley walked through that door right then, Aaron wouldn't go back to her while he loved her, she had hurt him, and he didn't trust her.

"Where did you go?" Aaron asked as he leaned back just a little to where they could look each other in the eyes just a little better.

"Just got lost in thought." Spencer's eyes darted around the part of the room that he could see. No one was looking at them. There was no curious glances as them, no glances at them at all. Spencer moved into Aaron again, and this time Aaron did what he had set out to do the first time, kiss Spencer. It was short but no less intense as their other kisses. They traded kisses back and forth until Stacia cleared her throat. She had the bill in hand with Aaron's card already there and a brown paper bag that was stapled shut. Spencer frowned as that meant he wouldn't be able to look and see what was inside.

Aaron signed the bill and dropped a little cash inside of the holder before closing it and handing it back. Stacia gave him a smile and then nodded at Spencer.

"Ready?"

"Yes."

Spencer stood up first and moved around the table to get out. Aaron was there, meeting him with a smile on his face and his arm held out so that Spencer could grip his elbow. Spencer tried not to look at the people as they left, but he couldn't help himself. No one looked at them at all other than the normal glances of seeing who was moving around them. There was no look of disgust, no lingering glances. Spencer had never felt so normal while with a guy on a date as he did at that moment. He could see them coming back to this place again and again just for that. Aaron seemed to like the place if he was on a first-name basis with Stacia, and she knew what he wanted to drink without asking. It didn't seem to have much to do with his handsomeness either. While she had been kind, she hadn't been flirty.

Lost in his head still, Spencer barely remembered the drive back to his house. He wasn't even aware they were that close until the car was stopped and the engine turned off. Aaron came around and opened up Spencer's car door while he sat there shocked at the turn of events. Aaron held out his hand and waited for Spencer to take it. Spencer slipped his hand into Aaron's and allowed Aaron to steady him as he stood up instead of using the car. Aaron had dessert in his other hand.

The front door opening had Spencer looking up to see Sammy standing there watching them. Spencer gave him a wave, and he got a wiggle of fingers back. That meant that he was very happy to see Spencer. There was no Jack there though. Spencer watched Jessica step up behind Sammy with a fond smile on her lips. Spencer gave her a wave as well. She waved back, the smile on her face getting brighter.

"Did you have a good meal?" Jessica asked as they approached the porch.

"Yes, Very much so," Aaron said.

"Good. I'll go and gather my things to leave."

"You can stay the night," Spencer offered. He hated that she needed to drive home as late as she did. This wasn't like it was Aaron's and her place wasn't that far. Spencer was a great deal further out than either of them.

"No, I'm too awake right now. I'll be fine, but I'll text you both when I get home." Jessica disappeared back into the house and was back just a few seconds later. It seemed that she already had her things packed up and ready to go. She ruffled Sammy's hair as she passed something that he endured from her but no one else. Jessica kissed Aaron's cheek and then Spencer before she was gone.

"Let's get you to bed, Sammy," Spencer said as he laid a hand on Sammy's shoulder to turn him around to where he was facing the inside. Sammy walked silently beside Spencer. Spencer stopped when they crossed by the living room area. Jack was asleep on the couch, his head half off of the cushion and his arm at an awkward angle. It was strange to see, but Spencer knew that he ended up like that most mornings in his real bed, so Spencer didn't rush to try and move him to where he was safe. There were cushions already on the floor, and the coffee table was pushed back but not quite enough to where if Jack fell, he wouldn't hit it.

Sammy pushed out of Spencer's hand and moved the coffee table. He even grabbed more pillows from one of the chairs and laid them carefully on the floor in case Jack moved up the couch more. Spencer wondered who had done the first set of pillows and the coffee table, Sammy or Jessica. He put his money on Sammy. Aaron's arm wrapped around Spencer from behind, a band of warmth across his chest.

"That's very promising," Aaron murmured into Spencer's ear.

"It very much is." Spencer was glad that Sammy was doing something like that. He was a good boy who was trying hard to be himself while the world demanded that he be someone else. He was never going to be that person, so Spencer wanted to make sure that he knew it was okay to be him.

Sammy walked back up to Spencer and carefully took his hand before starting to walk to the stairs that would take them up into the rest of the house.

"I'll be down in a little bit," Spencer said turning to look at Aaron.

"Take your time. I'll turn the TV and see if I can find something to watch."

"Okay."

Spencer carefully followed Sammy up the stairs, but when he got to the top, he let go. Sammy continued on to his bedroom. Sammy had been getting better at putting on his nightclothes alone, so Spencer allowed him that bit of independence on it all. Spencer walked to his bedroom to change into lounge pants and a T-shirt. He felt better in them since it was late and he had no clue how long Aaron would actually want to stay. Spencer didn't care, but he hated dressing while half asleep. He never seemed to get his clothes on right, and then they bugged him all night long. Aaron also liked to touch, and this would allow him to touch more.

Sammy was snug in bed when Spencer entered his bedroom. He had a book all laid out on the nightstand. His glass of water was filled so he could get a drink in the night. Sammy didn't have accidents while he slept, his body wasn't that bad off thankfully, and Sammy was good about cleaning up a little before he went to get Spencer if he did have an accident, there had been a few right when Sammy had started to live with him, but now there hadn't been once since.

"Oh, this is what you want to read, huh?" Spencer asked. He picked up the book and smiled as he settled at the head of the bed.

Sammy rolled over to where he was able to wrap an arm around Spencer's leg and lay his head on Spencer's thigh. It was something new, so Spencer figured that Sammy had missed him tonight.

"I missed you too," Spencer said as he threaded his fingers through Sammy's hair. Spencer opened up the book and read over the first few pages before he started to read to Sammy.

Spencer knew the exact moment that Sammy fell asleep as his hand that had been rubbing nonsense things into Spencer's skin on the side of his knee stopped. It was the only sign. It was strange, but Spencer was used to it now. He used to fall asleep a lot slower, and Spencer never knew if he was asleep or not until he stopped reading. Now though, the trust was there, and Spencer loved that part. Sammy trusted him to protect him, and that was all the validation that Spencer needed for changing his entire life for Sammy.

Reading three more pages, Spencer marked the page where he knew Sammy had fallen asleep before he covered up Sammy the rest of the way and turned the lights off. Small LEDs lit up the room as soon as it was dark. They would last until the first rays of dawn entered the room. Spencer had them commissioned for Sammy from Grimes Tech labs a few weeks before. The night lights were either too harsh or not enough, and Sammy would wake up afraid. Spencer had only needed to ask about them, and they were being made. A few other staff wanted them, so they were all test cases before a production area was set up to make more. Jackson thought they would do well with kids and adults. There was no need to remember to turn them on or off, and they recharged using solar power, or they could have a battery hooked up to them to make sure that in winter they had enough juice to run. Spencer understood why Jackson had made sure that there were plenty of other test cases as it was a new idea and it could make the company a lot of money.

One of the sets was shaped like leaves and hooked into the house's electricity grid. The cords that ran down from the device to the point of connecting were green, and then a tree trunk had been painted on the wall. The boy had a severe fear of the dark, so his parents wanted to make sure that he never had to fear the dark. Even the lights themselves were green. Jackson wanted to make sure that ready-made ones were bought easily enough but that there was the ability to custom make ones as well.

Spencer turned around and jumped a little when he saw Aaron leaning in the doorway. Aaron had a soft smile on his face, and there was such a look of love in his eyes.

"You are so good with him. It's very different from the first time that you held Jack and even Henry."

"I don't do well with babies."

"No, you don't. You are afraid you are going to drop them, they are going to cry, or spit up on you. You like them better once they have hit about six months to a year."

"Henry was perfect when he was that age. I miss that age."

"You miss being able to read to him for hours and hours, and he just sit there and listen because he had no other choice."

"Hey," Spencer said emphatically but not loud at all. "He enjoyed that!"

"He had no other option." Aaron turned around and took off at a fast clip down the hall and down the stairs. Spencer followed once he reached the ground floor, only Aaron was nowhere in sight. Spencer looked around and checked on Jack before heading into the kitchen. Aaron was leaning against the counter with a grin on his face. Spencer walked right up to him and grabbed his hands before spreading them out and pressing their bodies together.

"He liked me reading to him," Spencer stated before he kissed Aaron.

Aaron threaded their fingers together and turned Spencer's arms a little to where he could trap Spencer's hands behind his back. Spencer should have felt trapped, he should have been upset at the hold that Aaron had on him, but it just felt good to him. He felt surrounded by Aaron, and that was a good feeling. Spencer let Aaron control the kiss as well, and when Aaron finally pulled out of it, Spencer's head was spinning.

"Hop up on the counter over there."

"You have a kink with that don't you?"

"I like feeling your legs wrapped around me, yes." There was no shame in Aaron's voice or on his face. He freely admitted what he liked. Spencer knew that it was from his age and just his whole manner of being. It was nice and interesting to see but also something that Spencer was taking a little to get used to. He wasn't used to be so bold with his wants. He never tricked people, but he was used to never saying what he wanted and going with what the other person wanted. Aaron made him want to do better. Aaron made him want to be better.

"So is that what you want to do again? Make out?"

"Not so much that." Aaron gave Spencer a wicked grin before he fully let go of him and stepped back. Spencer did as he wanted, moving to the spot on the counter that Aaron almost always trapped him at before he hopped up there. Aaron went to the fridge and pulled out the bag with the dessert from the restaurant. Aaron settled the bag beside Spencer before digging out two cardboard containers and then a small, sealed, clear bowl with what looked like dark chocolate sauce inside.

Spencer was intrigued on what was inside the cardboard boxes. It was obviously something that was dippable. Aaron reached into the first box and pulled out a strawberry. It wasn't entirely whole, but there was a plug that looked to be made of chocolate at the end where the stem was. The berry was not overly large either. A perfect mouthful. Aaron cracked open the lid on the sauce and dipped the tip of the strawberry into it. He held it up to Spencer's lips. Spencer parted them enough to take in the strawberry. The chocolate sauce was rich on Spencer's tongue but not too sweet. The berry was full of flavor when he bit into it, but there was something else. Rum. There was rum in the strawberry. It was a spicy rum that just kind of blended perfectly together with the fruit and the chocolate sauce.

Before Spencer could tell Aaron how he felt about the dessert option that he had chosen, Aaron was there kissing him. Chasing the taste of the dessert in Spencer's mouth with his tongue. There was no build-up to the kissing, there was just tongue in his mouth, and he had no problem with that. Spencer grabbed Aaron's hips and pulled him closer to the counter before he raised them up to where they were framing Aaron's ribs. Spencer did as Aaron liked and wrapped his legs around his waist. There was no missing that both of them were getting hard, but like every other time before there was no press to go any further than they were going at the moment.

Spencer always felt a little weird when he stopped kissing Aaron as he lost track of time and never knew how much time was passing. Aaron stopped every few minutes this time to either feed Spencer a strawberry or eat one himself. Spencer felt no need to try and grab one to feed Aaron. Aaron wanted to have control of this, and Spencer would allow it. It felt too good, and Aaron's hands on him after popping the strawberry into Spencer's mouth would rob him of the ability to protest anyway. Aaron slipped his hands under Spencer's shirt, the hand at Spencer's back stayed there while the one that brushed over his stomach was the one that Spencer was being fed strawberries with.

Aaron took a small break to have them both eat a berry at the same time while taking sips of water. They finished off the glass that Aaron had poured at some point before Spencer had entered the kitchen while staring each other in the eyes.

"You doing okay?" Aaron asked when the water was gone, and he had set the glass on the far side of the sink.

"Very much so. I do feel a little drunk, but I am unsure if that's the strawberries or your kisses."

"Smooth talker you," Aaron said before he dipped down to kiss Spencer again.

Spencer worked on opening the buttons on the bottom of Aaron's dress shirt. While he had taken off the outer jacket and tie for the date, he was very much still in work clothes which told Spencer how much he had rushed to make the date that they had technically canceled. Spencer wiggled his fingers into the hole in the shirt to tug up Aaron's undershirt from his pants. Aaron inhaled when Spencer touched the skin. He knew that Aaron enjoyed being touched, he was near touch starved when it came to anyone that wasn't Jack or Jessica. Even just casual brushes of hands together made Aaron feel better. Spencer had never thought that he was touched starved but seeing the way that Aaron was, Spencer had to wonder what had been missing in his childhood that made him realize that he was not like normal people. He didn't have that want to be touched. Aaron was different, though. Spencer wanted to touch and to be touched by him.

"Close your eyes," Aaron whispered as he pulled back. They were both more than a little hard, but neither of them was rocking into each other, they were just staying like they were.

Spencer closed his eyes like Aaron wanted and waited. He felt Aaron's thumb trace his lips, removing moisture it seemed. Then another finger followed, but this time there was chocolate sauce there.

"Lick," Aaron said. His voice was husky, and it was showed more of his arousal than just his cock being hard did.

Spencer licked his lips, getting the fine coat of chocolate there before he felt another strawberry being pressed there. Spencer opened wide to allow it to be put inside and only closed his lips when the full weight of it was on his tongue. Spencer chewed, but instead of Aaron coming in for a kiss when Spencer was close to done, his chin was tipped up, and Aaron pressed kisses down the column of his throat that was a little tight from being stretched. It made it a little hard to swallow but not impossible. Aaron tugged down on the collar of Spencer's shirt before he latched on at the base of the column of Spencer's throat. Spencer drew his hand up Aaron's body and tangled his fingers into the short hairs at the back of Aaron's head to keep him there. He knew that Aaron was going to leave a mark, but he didn't care.

Aaron was done long before Spencer wanted him to be done, but the mouth followed the trail up to take Spencer's mouth in a kiss.

"Last strawberry," Aaron whispered when he pulled back.

Spencer opened his mouth with little care for how he looked as Aaron dipped the strawberry into the chocolate sauce before he held it up to Spencer's lips. He wasn't as careful as he had been, whether it was on purpose or not, Spencer didn't now but chocolate sauce smeared on Spencer's lips. Before Spencer could lick it off, Aaron was there doing it for him. It was one of the strangest feelings in the world, but it wasn't gross. Spencer wasn't sure if he liked it or not.

"Daddy?" Jack called out. He sounded like he was in the room.

Aaron didn't jerk away from Spencer but just pressed a simple kiss to his lips before pulling back. Spencer unwrapped his legs from around the man so he could get away.

"Yes, Son?" Aaron asked.

Spencer kept his eyes closed as he got himself under control.

"You are home. I didn't hear you, but your car was here. I thought I was dreaming."

"Never." There was a short grunt that Spencer knew was Aaron picking up Jack.

When Spencer did open his eyes, Aaron was staring at him with a smile on his face, Jack clinging like a monkey to him. Jack looked to be already half asleep again. Spencer watched them for a moment before he moved to get off the counter. He stood on unsure legs for a few seconds before moving. He could feel Aaron's smugness as he moved to clean up the mess. The little paper cups that reminded Spencer of the wrapping that cupcakes came in were tossed into the trash while the two boxes were broken down for recycling. The container with a little bit of chocolate sauce was put into the fridge after the lid was put onto it.

"I think we will take our leave."

"A bedroom is still open to you."

"Thank you but no. I'm looking forward to sleeping in my bed."

Spencer understood that one. He nodded his head and stepped up to Aaron to get a kiss goodbye. Aaron's lips still tasted a little of chocolate when Spencer licked at them, making Aaron groan.

"Eww," Jack whispered in a funny tone.

"You think that's gross?" Aaron asked.

"Kissing is always gross," Jack declared.

"I'll walk you out."

"No more kissing," Jack said, but he laid his head back down and closed his eyes.

Spencer gave a laugh and followed Aaron out to the door. Aaron walked down to slip Jack into his booster seat in the back and buckled him in. Aaron shut the door softly and watched Jack for nearly a minute before he turned back to look at Spencer. Aaron jogged up the steps and kissed Spencer like there was no tomorrow. Spencer clung to him and enjoyed feeling wanted.

"Soon," Aaron breathed against Spencer's lips when he pulled away.

"Soon," Spencer said back. He stood there as Aaron walked down the stairs and got into the car. When he got to the end of the drive that led to Spencer's house, he flicked his lights in goodbye. Spencer waved even though Aaron wouldn't be able to see him and he turned to go inside. Spencer checked the doors and window on the first floor before setting the alarm and making his way to bed. His cock was soft again, but the arousal still skirted across his mind, but he didn't feel like taking care of it at all, so he laid down and grabbed the tablet that he used for reading. It had a good control on brightness so Spencer could read with no light on. He used to be able to sleep with a light on so he could just pass out while reading, but he no longer could. The light bothered him, and he didn't sleep well at all. Which was strange considering the slight fear of the full dark that he had for so many years.

A check on Sammy before Spencer laid down showed that he was still asleep. Spencer watched him for a minute, knowing that it was wrong to keep on watching while he slept.

Spencer checked his phone to see that Jessica had indeed texted and that Aaron had as well. The message stating how much Aaron missed him already when he was only a few miles away made Spencer want to beg him to come back, but he knew that Aaron would be torn between doing what he felt was right for him and trying to make Spencer happy, so Spencer didn't.

Texting back to Aaron that he missed him as well, Spencer rolled over to plug his phone in and start to read for the night. He wanted a lot of things, and it was just the beginning of what he could have if he were patient. He would be patient because Aaron's love and his relationship was worth whatever waiting that had to be done.

# The End

**Author's Note:**

> I write fanfiction for fun. It's a hobby and a stress relief. I refuse to stress over my writing. What you see is what you get. Errors, plot holes, and all. Thank you for reading my story!
> 
> I can be found on MeWe [here](https://mewe.com/i/beccaqueen1), join me there and we can discuss my fics and whatnot.


End file.
